I am interested in MANY things. Here are the four topics that I plan to feature on this website:
I retired in June 2019... and starting making Artist Trading Cards just in time for THE PANDEMIC. Making and trading cards kept me sane for those two years when I didn't leave the house much.
ATCs and Webpages: WordPress I tried to keep a record of my ATC journey on a Wordpress Blog site, Pepperwood ATCs but the blog interface didn't really work well. I also kept changing directions. (I used the site to display my available ATCs, and to write little articles about ATCs, and to announce ATC events at the Topeka Art Guild.) It was fun to have an "online presence," but I couldn't really organize things the way I wanted to. The site still works, and I won't be taking it down because I've put the URL on a LOT of little ATC booklets that I've shared. But my Google Site is much better.
ATCs and Webpages: Google Sites In July of 2024 I found a site that worked better for an ATC Artist: Google Sites: Pepperwood ATCs
I have had a LOT of fun with the Google site-builder. It gives me so many more choices, and I've added a lot of content to the site. Check it out!
I've also been active on the Instructables website since 2011! While I occassionally enter contests, I mostly use the site to publish little printable story books. In 2025 I plan to finally publish ALL of the "Pinka" stories. My grandchildren are now too old for them, but certainly some other grandma will enjoy sharing them with her grandkids....
I learned about the neocities.org in the fall of 2024. And I LOVE IT!
I fondly remember creating my first website on the old GeoCities platform. Writing HTML on Windows notepad, using FTP to send the hand-coded HTML files to the server... it was creative and exciting and I loved it.
I've had a LOT of websites over the last thirty years. My class website, in fact, caused me a lot of trouble. Some parents thought I did too much computer stuff back in the late 1990's. I DO wish I had saved the content from that site, but I managed to bounce my first external drive on the kitchen floor, back in the days when they had to be plugged in and I tripped over the cord...so all of those files are long gone.
Once I quit teaching, in 2001, I worked for the state legislature. We used Dreamweaver to make edits to the existing websites. I didn't really "create" any content. I learned some CSS in order to format EPUB files but years later I have forgotten most of that.
So the first thing I plan to do is re-learn CSS, using this website as my "product." Eventually, I'll add other content. For now: Grandma Van's website is a CSS learning platform.
Take a look!I am currently volunteering almost every Saturday at the Art Lab. (Basement of the Mulvane Art Gallery in Topeka, Kansas)
The director allows me to bring projects and share them with the children and adults that visit each week. It's completely free and I am having SUCH a good time. Eventually I hope to add information about cool projects here on this website, but for now.... I need to get better at CSS....